With the travel constraints of the COVID-19 pandemic well and truly in the rear-view mirror, Australian motorists are expected to be taking to the roads in droves this holiday season.
Ahead of the busy week and a half leading up to and following Christmas, electric vehicle (EV) charging firm Evie Networks has detailed how it’s prepared itself for the influx of new and existing customers.
Evie predicts Saturday, December 21 and Sunday, December 22 to be the busiest days on the road, as Christmas Day falls on a Wednesday this year, with many Australians expected to take the Monday and Tuesday off.
In the past year, Evie reports it’s experienced an 83 per cent increase in EV drivers using its network, well above the circa-eight per cent growth in the new EV market.
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To cope with this expected surge in demand for its services, Evie has been hard at work to increase its Australian network, with 732 bays across 278 sites now operational – an improvement on its 438 bays at 200 sites last Christmas.
Queensland motorists are also set to benefit from a new partnership between Evie and the state’s motoring club, the Royal Automobile Club of Queensland (RACQ).
RACQ members will receive a $0.04 per kWh discount on their first 1000kWh of charging each year – equivalent to $40 – if they link their membership number to their Evie smartphone application.
The discount can be used at Evie’s fast-charging stations in Queensland and northern New South Wales, where the brand’s chargers will soon be co-branded as RACQ units in a bid to further aid customers.
According to Evie and the RACQ, a 28 per cent increase in Queensland charging bays is expected by May 2025, which has already expanded from 92 to 200-plus between 2023 and 2024.
The announcement comes after EV charging rival Chargefox – owned by the Australian Motoring Services, itself owned by the Mobility Clubs of Australia which includes the RACQ – announced it had added NRMA’s charging stations to its smartphone application.
In July, Evie launched Autocharge, which allows EV owners to pull up at a charging station, plug in and start charging without the need for a smartphone application or RFID card.
Tesla’s Superchargers can also start charging automatically, however they’re less accessible to owners of EVs not made by the brand.
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